NAILBA Perspectives - January/February 2015 - (Page 40)

member profiles Art Jetter & Company About the Agency Art Jetter & Company was founded in 1979. Today, the agency has 30 employees, including 12 marketers, 11 operations employees, one on-staff underwriter, two new business professionals, and four national recruiters. Also, our awesome CMO Karen Nalley has been with us for 26 years. Arthur C. Jetter, CLU, CFP, RHU, FLMI, REBC, LTCP Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Art Jetter & Company has been a NAILBA member since 1989. Founder and President Art Jetter and his son A.C. Jetter, Vice President, CO, and IT Director, provided input for this article. What makes your organization unique? What makes us different is the breadth of markets and products we represent, which is pretty much everything life and health. We're truly a one-stop-shop. We work with roughly 80 insurance carriers, and we do just about everything: Annuities, Critical Illness, Disability, Employee Benefits, Life, Health, Long Term Care, Senior Health, and Worksite. We believe in providing our agents and brokers with the best quality service, tools, and consumer-oriented products. When I started this agency, I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if agents had somewhere to go where they could work with specialists?" We use the word "marketers" in the office, but they're more like product and market specialists. We've had pretty much the same game plan since day one: We try to provide our agents with real expertise in each market segment. Why did you want to be in this industry? Art Jetter: In the early '70s, I had just gotten out of the Army, and I was looking for work. I had an immediate appreciation for the miracle life insurance can provide a family. There were 32 guys with me in Vietnam, and eight of them lost their lives-and some of them had families. So it was very meaningful to me. I heard the "You'll earn a fortune" and the "Create an estate with the swipe of a pen" stories. I was hooked. So I jumped in and found out pretty quickly why so many people leave the life insurance business. But I wanted to be a good student, so I took every course I could find. Every time an agent asked me a new question, I found solutions. I did a lot of work with other agents and eventually other agencies and carriers who thought I could provide them with advanced underwriting help. Slowly this morphed into a brokerage operation. I started Art Jetter & Company in 1979. In the beginning, I handled everything myself: supplies, filing, record keeping, training, bookkeeping, case management, all of it. Advanced MDRT advised me to hire staff so I could write more business. So before I could afford it, I hired an assistant- and it worked. Over the years, the agency grew from one to 30 employees. More about Art Jetter With a BS in Business Administration from Dana College, Reading now: Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, 42 Air Medals, two Army by Wilbur H. Morrison Art is a Vietnam War Veteran who has been rewarded the The Elephant and the Tiger: The Full Story of the Vietnam War Commendation Medals for Valor, Vietnam Campaign Ribbon, Favorite movie: Vietnam Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. Art has more than 40 years of experience in the life insurance industry and was recently named as the 2014 recipient of the Douglas Mooers Award of Excellence. He is currently a Director Apocalypse Now or Ghostbusters Favorite vacation spot: Maui with ACORD and The Marketing Alliance. He has also served as Hobbies: Life Happens, NAILBA Chairman, and President of the National Family: President of The Brokers Health Insurance Network, Director of Association of Health Underwriters. Spending time with his grandkids Wife of 40 years Jennifer; son A.C. and daughter Sarah; three grandkids, Gabriel, Lucas, and Lily 40 perspectives JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NAILBA Perspectives - January/February 2015

NAILBA Perspectives - January/February 2015
Contents
Chairman’s Corner
CEO Insights
The NAILBA of the Future
NAILBA Charitable Foundation
Life Happens
Shaking Up Sales Concepts in 2015
Agency Successor Networking Group
NAILBA 33 Highlights
Member Profiles
Reading Ahead
Agency Resources
Calendar of Events
Index of Advertisers

NAILBA Perspectives - January/February 2015